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By Stephen Beech
Data from trendy menstrual tracking apps is a "gold mine" for advertisers that puts women’s safety at risk, warns a new report.
The smartphone apps that track menstrual cycles collect information on everything from exercise, diet and medication to sexual preferences, hormone levels and contraception use, according to the University of Cambridge study.
The research from Cambridge’s Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy claims that the financial worth of the data is “vastly underestimated” by users who supply profit-driven firms with highly intimate details in a market lacking regulation.
The research team says that cycle tracking app (CTA) data in the wrong hands could result in risks to job prospects, workplace monitoring, health insurance discrimination and cyberstalking, and limit access to abortion.
They have called for better governance of the booming "femtech" industry to protect users when their data is sold, arguing that apps must provide "clear consent" options rather than all-or-nothing data collection.
The team has also urged public health bodies to launch alternatives to commercial CTAs.
Study lead author Dr. Stefanie Felsberger said: “Menstrual cycle tracking apps are presented as empowering women and addressing the gender health gap.
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“Yet the business model behind their services rests on commercial use, selling user data and insights to third parties for profit.
“There are real and frightening privacy and safety risks to women as a result of the commodification of the data collected by cycle tracking app companies.”
As most cycle tracking apps are targeted at women aiming to get pregnant, she said the download data alone is of huge commercial value, as, along with home buying, no other life event is linked to such dramatic shifts in consumer behaviour.
Data on pregnancy is believed to be over 200 times more valuable than data on age, gender or location for targeted advertising.
The report points out that period tracking could also be used to target women at different points in their cycle. For example, the estrogen or "mating" phase could see an increase in ads for cosmetics.
Just the three most popular apps had estimated global download figures of a quarter of a billion in 2024.
The femtech sector – digital products focused on women’s health and well-being – is estimated to be worth over $60 billion by 2027, with cycle tracking apps making up half of that market.
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With such intense demand for period tracking, the report says that the NHS should develop its own "transparent and trustworthy" app to rival those from private firms, with apps allowing permission for data to be used in valid medical research.
Dr. Felsberger said: “The UK is ideally positioned to solve the question of access to menstrual data for researchers, as well as privacy and data commodification concerns, by developing an NHS app to track menstrual cycles.
“Apps that are situated within public healthcare systems, and not driven primarily by profit, will mitigate privacy violations, provide much-needed data on reproductive health, and give people more agency over how their menstrual data is used.”
Gina Neff, executive director of Cambridge’s Minderoo Centre, said: “The use of cycle tracking apps is at an all-time high.
“Women deserve better than to have their menstrual tracking data treated as consumer data, but there is a different possible future.
“Researchers could use this data to help answer questions about women’s health.
"Care providers could use this data for important information about their patients’ health.
"Women could get meaningful insights that they are searching for."
In the UK, period tracking data is considered “special category” - along with data on genetics, plus ethnicity - and has more legal safeguards.
The report highlights how, in the UK, apps designed for women's health have been used to charge women for illegally accessing abortion services.
But, despite that, data from CTAs are regulated simply as “general wellness” and granted no special protections.
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Dr. Felsberger said, “Menstrual tracking data is being used to control people’s reproductive lives.
"It should not be left in the hands of private companies.”
Investigations have revealed CTAs sharing data with third parties, ranging from advertisers and data brokers to tech giants such as Facebook and Google.
The report cites work published last month from Privacy International showing that, while the big CTA firms have updated their approach to data sharing, device information is still collected in the UK and US with “no meaningful consent”.
The report suggests that user information is still shared with third parties.
Dr. Felsberger says that, at the very least, commercial apps could include delete buttons, allowing users to erase data in the app as well as the company servers, helping protect against situations, from legal to medical, where data could be used against them.
She added, “Menstrual tracking in the US should be classed as medical data.
“In the UK and EU, where this data is already afforded special category status, more focus needs to be placed on enforcing existing regulation.”
The report, published by the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy (MCTD), suggests that schools should educate students on medical data apps and privacy, so young people are less vulnerable to health hoaxes.
